The airline is a subsidiary of JG Summit Holdings. Cebu Pacific is currently headed by Lance Gokongwei, presumptive heir of John Gokongwei, the chairman emeritus of JG Summit. As of January 2013, The company has 3,297 employees. 2,565 were from operations, 429 from the commercial departments, and 303 from the support departments.[6] In October 2010, the airline completed an IPO of 30.4% of outstanding shares.[7] Cebu Pacific carried 12.3 million passengers in 2012 and is now the largest carrier in the Philippines.[citation needed]

The airline was established on August 26, 1988, and started operations on March 8, 1996. Republic Act No. 7151, which grants franchise to Cebu Air, Inc. was approved on August 30, 1991. Cebu Air, Inc. was subsequently acquired by JG Summit Holdings (owned by John Gokongwei). Domestic services commenced following market deregulation by the Philippine government. It temporarily ceased operations in February 1998 after being grounded by the government due to an accident, but resumed services later the next month following re-certification of its aircraft.[4] It initially started with 24 domestic flights daily among Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao. By the end of 2001, its operations had grown to about 80 daily flights to 18 domestic destinations.

In the 2000s, Cebu Pacific was granted rights to operate international flights to the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Guam. International flights were launched on November 22, 2001, with a twice-daily service to Hong Kong.[8] On March 1, 2002, it commenced thrice-weekly flights to Seoul.[9] Other regional flights were introduced and suspended later; however, including flights to Singapore (from November 6, 2002, to January 2003) and from Manila via Subic to Seoul (from December 2002) due in part to the effects of the SARS epidemic.[10]

The airline resumed its Manila-to-Singapore flights on August 31, 2006[11] and launched its direct flight from Cebu to Singapore on October 23, 2006, the first low-cost airline to serve the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu sector,[12] and in direct competition with Singapore Airlines' subsidiary SilkAir, CEB is now the only Philippine carrier serving the Cebu-Singapore-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service. The airline operates direct flights from Cebu to Hong Kong which commenced October 2, 2006, which also made CEB the only Philippine carrier to serve a Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu route after PAL terminated its direct service and is now code-sharing with Cathay Pacific for this route.[13]

In May 2005, Cebu Pacific received two Airbus A320 aircraft on lease from CIT Leasing and operated its first service with the new aircraft on June 3, 2005, from Manila to Davao City.

In December 2006, after a month or two of operating the new direct flights, Cebu Pacific announced that it would increase flight frequency for its Cebu-Hong Kong-Cebu from four to five times weekly and Cebu-Singapore-Cebu flights from four to six weekly effective January 25, 2007. As of January 2008, it operates regional flights to Busan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul-Incheon, Taipei and Bangkok beginning April 6, 2008 from its Cebu hub; and Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai and Xiamen from Manila.

Cebu Pacific's plans to begin international flights from Clark were initially unsuccessful when its request was denied. The nations involved came to an agreement that Cebu Pacific would be only allowed to operate charter flights from Clark to the respective countries' airport(s). Only Singapore initially agreed to allow Cebu Pacific to fly scheduled flights from Clark to Singapore.[14] Cebu Pacific now operates routes from Clark to Bangkok, Cebu, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.[15]

On November 12, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced Davao's Francisco Bangoy International Airport as its fourth hub. Cebu Pacific announced that it would initially fly internationally from Davao City to Singapore, Hong Kong and fly one domestic flight to Iloilo. Both direct services from Davao to Singapore and Iloilo commenced on May 8, 2008, while the service to Hong Kong commenced on May 9, 2008.[17]

On December 18, 2007, Cebu Pacific announced that it would exercise options on its recent ATR-72-500 turboprop order (initially six firm) to increase its firm order to 10.[19]

On February 19, 2008, Cebu Pacific Air received its first brand-new ATR 72-500 from Toulouse, France and expected to take delivery of another five ATRs from March to December 2008.[20] The initial two ATRs fly on routes such as Cebu to Bacolod.

Cebu Pacific took delivery of its 16th brand-new, 179-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, from Toulouse, France, on March 20, 2008. The new aircraft supports CEB's expanding international and domestic operations which include flights to 12, soon to be 15, international destinations.[21]

On May 28, 2008, Cebu Pacific was named as the world's number one airline in terms of growth. The airline was also ranked fifth in Asia for Budget Airline passengers transported and 23rd in the world. The airline carried a total of almost 5.5 million passengers in 2007, up 57.4 per cent from 2006[22]

On July 22, 2008, Cebu Pacific was the first airline to use the new Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with its flight to Caticlan being the first to depart at 0515 local time. On August 1, 2008, it moved its international operations to the terminal; thus, becoming the first airline to have regular international commercial flights from the new terminal.

Cebu Pacific will open flights between Manila and Kuwait which began last September 2, 2014 while flights between Manila and Sydney will begin on September 9, 2014.

In September 2014, Cebu Pacific announced non-stop, thrice-weekly flights between Manila and Dammam in Saudi Arabia which will start on October 4, 2014 and Riyadh on October 1, 2014. [28]

On March 2, 2015, Cebu Pacific announced to cancel twice-weekly flights between Manila and Dammam which will end on March 29, 2015.[29] The airline later announced that they would commence flights to Doha, Qatar from Manila, starting June 4, 2015.[30]

In April 2005, Cebu Pacific signed a joint-venture agreement with SIA Engineering Company for the maintenance of the Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft. The new company, called Aviation Partnership (Philippines) Corporation, is co-owned by SIA Engineering Ltd and Cebu Pacific.

In March 2007, Cebu Pacific announced an order of 10 Airbus A320s, plus 10 options. The firm orders are for delivery from 2010 to 2012, while the options are for delivery from 2011 to 2013. In order to bridge the gap from now until the first delivery in 2010, CEB will be taking short- to medium-term leases on Airbus A320 aircraft. 4 will be leased in 2008, with a further three to four being leased in 2009.

On December 18, 2008, Cebu Pacific announced that they have ordered an additional four ATR-72-500 turboprop aircraft. This order increases their order of ATR-72 aircraft from 6 firm plus 8 options to 10 firm plus 8 options.[19]

On June 16, 2009 at the Paris Airshow, Airbus announced that Cebu Pacific had increased its outstanding A320 orders to 15 with a new firm order for 5 aircraft. The additional planes are scheduled for delivery starting 2013.[31] Cebu Air Inc. said on April 20, 2010 it would purchase an additional 7 Airbus A320s, bringing to 22 its pending orders from European manufacturer Airbus, a unit of EADS.[32]

In June 2011, Cebu Air Inc. announced that it was purchasing 30 Airbus A321neos and seven Airbus A320s for $3.8 billion, allowing it to more than double its fleet by 2021 and expand its international routes. The A320s would be delivered between 2015 and 2021, while the A321neo fleet would arrive from 2017 to 2021. The airline also took 10 additional options for the Airbus 321neos. Previous orders for 18 A320 to be delivered through 2014 brought the total Airbus order to 55.[33]

On January 31, 2012 the airline announced a lease order for eight Airbus A330-300 aircraft for use in long-haul flights.[26]

On June 16, 2015 at the 2015 Paris Air Show, the airline announced an order for 16 ATR 72-600 aircraft to meet growing demand in the Philippines for inter-island services. The airline will also be the launch customer of the new high density Armonia cabin.

Global Eagle Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq:ENT), a worldwide leading provider of content, connectivity and digital media solutions to airlines, today (10/29/2014) announced a new deployment of its WISE™ wireless inflight entertainment solution within the onboard connectivity platform SKYfi developed by KID Systeme GmbH, a division of Airbus, and installed on CEBU Pacific Air (PSE:CEB), the largest airline in the Philippines.[38]

On June 2, 2013, Cebu Pacific Flight 971, an Airbus A320-200 carrying 165 passengers inbound from Manila, ran off the runway at Francisco Bangoy International Airport and investigators have found the cause was likely human error. There were no fatalities, however the plane was heavily damaged, and passengers suffered injuries.[40]